http://hdl.handle.net/2160/570 PhD theses from the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, AU Fri, 10 May 2013 22:26:12 GMT 2013-05-10T22:26:12Z http://hdl.handle.net/2160/5862 Characterising the language demands of the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum for Wales (2000) – Towards a ‘functional approach’ to planning English as an Additional Language development Brentnall, Jonathan Mark This thesis presents the first extensive study carried out in the Welsh education policy context to adopt a Hallidayan „functional‟ approach to identifying curriculum language demands and planning English as an additional language development within the National Curriculum (NC) in Wales at Key Stage 3 (KS3). The study is located within the field of English as an Additional Language (EAL), specifically within the sub-field which examines the relationship between „language and content‟. The thesis characterises the language demands of the KS3 curriculum by working from an overview of subject disciplines and discourses, through individual curriculum goals, to language models suitable for supporting EAL pupils in the classroom. The main argument of the thesis proposes that teachers use the contextual information available to them in advance of a subject lesson to construct integrated language and learning goals and to identify suitable models of language which may be used in activities directed at achieving the curriculum goals. The study draws upon several insights into the nature of the English language from Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory. These insights explain how the constraints of context act to narrow the options in language choice and how inherent variability in the language system allows for differentiation of language models to express similar meanings. Throughout the thesis, points are illustrated by examples and findings from a computer-assisted textual analysis of the text of the statutory KS3 National Curriculum orders for Wales (2000) carried out to inform the study about the roles and purposes of language use in the service of teaching, learning and assessment goals. The thesis concludes that to assist teachers in making more appropriate choices about which language models to use, a substantial corpus of texts, written to fulfil curriculum purposes, should be analysed for typical structures, collocations and patterns. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2160/5862 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2160/4607 Children's Toy Advertisements Griffiths, Merris In the late 1990s, the controversial debate about child-targeted advertisements was rekindled as the European Commission considered an outright ban of children's advertising in the UK. Little academic research had previously been conducted on the children's advertisements broadcast on British television, while the specific genre of toy advertisements had been almost entirely neglected. The aim of this investigation was to offer in-depth analysis of toy advertisements in the specific context of gender identity formation. The overriding assumption was that children learn about `appropriate gender behaviour' from observing patterns of gender stereotypy [sic] in the media, where toy advertisements offer observable models engaged in (gendered) play activities. The investigation was organised into the three broad categories, looking at the interrelationship between the `Text' (advertisements), the `Producer' (advertisers) and the `Receiver' (children). Initially, a large sample of televised toy advertisements was collected in the winter of 1996 and analysed using both content and semiotic techniques. The intention was to build a framework of any gendered patterns within the texts in terms of production and post-production techniques, as well as themes and product philosophies. This was followed by a discussion of how advertisement producers conventionally target the child audience sector. Ethnographic-style field observations and interviews were then conducted with a group of children (aged 4- to 11-years) in a bilingual (Welsh/English) school in West Wales. A selection of toy advertisements was shown to them, and particular attention was paid to the ways in which they discussed technical production features and gender representations. As an alternative to oral communication, the children were also challenged to design their toy advertisements, to assess whether they understood the construction of advertisement texts sufficiently well to reinterpret the televisual conventions in the context of a static medium. Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2160/4607 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2160/3265 Joseph Lancaster and the British and foreign school society: the evolution of an educational organization from 1798 to 1846 McGarry, Kevin John The scope of this study traces the origins, growth and development of the British and Foreign School Society from its obscure origins in Joseph Lancaster's school at Borough Road to the beginnings of the pupil teacher system in 1846. Lancaster's early life is used as a framework to show the obscure and controversial origins of the Society, and the manner in which his twin contributions of the monitorial system and non-sectarian religious education influenced and directed the Society's response to a rapidly changing historical context. Unlike the National Society, the British and Foreign School Society represented, in its supporters, a wide spectrum of opinions on the social and religious nature of education. Extensive use has been made of the manuscript collections dealing with eminent contemporaries such as Francis Place, Henry Brougham, Samuel Whitbread and William Allen. The intention is to show how a voluntary organization's problems are reflected in the private communications between the people who are involved in its policy planning and control, and the degree to which the organization adapted to internal dissensions and external pressures in the first half of the nineteenth century. Tue, 01 Jan 1985 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2160/3265 1985-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2160/1937 A Study of the Greek-Cypriot Public Education System, 1974-1994 Mavrou, Panayiotis Kyriakou It is the aim of this study to examine what has been done in Cyprus in the field of education since 1974 when Cyprus faced the devastating consequences of the Turkish invasion which affected all aspects of life in Cyprus and consequently education. Special interest, however, is shown in the development of education prior to 1974 in order to show how decisively the political, social and economic factors influenced the present day education. The introductory chapter describes briefly the aims of this study, the strategy for research and the main sources consulted aiming at providing a compactly general picture of this study. Chapter 2 provides some information concerning the background and history of Cyprus and concentrates on the factors influencing the development of education in Cyprus to 1974. In Chapter 3 is presented a picture of the battle for control of education which was intensified after the 1974 coup launched by the Junta of Athens against President Makarios and the Turkish invasion which caused a crisis of national identity. The same chapter examines the system of educational administration which is highly centralized and a less rigidly centralized system is proposed. Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary and Higher Education is discussed in Chapters 4,5,6 and 7 respectively. Pre-primary education has made great strides and is considered to be necessary for the normal development of children. Its rapid development, however, was necessitated after the 1974 catastrophe when an increasing number of women joined the work force. In Primary education the curriculum which has been developed emphasizes the child's active participation in all aspects of life placing the child in the centre. The graduate entry into primary education creates better prospects for its further improvement. After the Turkish invasion the role of Technical Education became more important since the rebuilding of Cyprus economy was based, to a great extent, on this level of education. Despite the progress made in the field of Technical Education, the prejudice against it hinders its further expansion. The efforts invested in the task of developing Secondary Education after independence have produced results since there have been major innovations, the most important being the Lyceum of Optional Subjects introduced in 1980, which served Cyprus for 15 years and is expected to be replaced by the new proposed system of the integrated Lyceum. The third-level institutions, both in public and private sectors, achieve high standards. However, the educational development in Cyprus reached its apogee with the establishment of the University of Cyprus. Teachers in Cyprus constitute the cornerstone of the educational system; therefore, Chapter 8 is devoted to the teaching profession in Cyprus; the current situation is explained, some problem areas are highlighted and possible solutions are suggested. Finally, the introduction of a Pastoral care system and a Bilingual Education project in schools in Cyprus is examined in the last two chapters. Sun, 01 Jan 1995 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2160/1937 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z